Song Light and Darkness
Light and darkness, light and darkness, light and darkness, light and darkness, light and darkness, light and darkness...
Prologue Darkness in the most ancient stories of faith
God made humankind because God loves stories.[1]
In some of the earliest stories of Genesis, we meet our ancestor Abraham. He came close to God under the night sky and God promised Abraham, “Look up at the stars. That’s how many descendants you will have one day.” It wasn’t the only time through the Bible that God appeared in the darkness.
Beautiful darkness. Joyous light.
Another time, a grandson of Abraham, Jacob, was returning through the wilderness to his brother after a long, long separation. After an amazing dream where angels walked up and down a ladder stretching from earth to sky, Jacob wrestled a mysterious stranger. Realizing at some point that this stranger was God or God’s messenger, Jacob wouldn’t let go until he received a blessing.
Beautiful darkness. Joyous light.
Later still, when Jacob’s son Joseph—another dreamer—interpreted the Pharaoh’s dreams in Egypt, he ended up being promoted to a place where he saved his large family and the whole country from starving.
Long after that, the Hebrew people became enslaved under an evil ruler. Under cover of darkness, midwives disobeyed the ruler’s evil orders and God called those midwives righteous. The Hebrew people survived and grew in number and finally, led by God through night and day, Moses and his siblings, Aaron and Miriam, walked the people out of slavery into freedom.
Beautiful darkness. Joyous light.
The birth of Jesus was marked by angels and a star. Shepherds came by night to see the child for themselves. Magi followed a star for months, maybe years, until they found the child and worshipped God.
Beautiful darkness. Joyous light.
In this season of long, beautiful darkness, we can remember that through all the ages, God has been present to people through night as well as day. God has been present in nighttime dreams and visions, through angel choirs and through the stories told around a fire. God has been present as people follow the north star to freedom, as new ones are born, and as seeds lie under the soil, sleeping until it is time to grow.
Song Light and Darkness
A Reading from Isaiah Isaiah 40:26
Look at the evening sky! Who created the stars? Who gave them each a name? Who leads them like an army? The Lord is so powerful that none of the stars are ever missing.
Song Creator of the stars at night
Children, then all
A Reading from Ezekiel Ezekiel 17:22-24
Someday, I, the Lord, will cut a tender twig from the top of a cedar tree, then plant it on the peak of Israel’s tallest mountain, where it will grow strong branches and produce large fruit.
All kinds of birds will find shelter under the tree, and they will rest in the shade of its branches. Every tree in the forest will know that I, the Lord, can bring down tall trees and help short ones grow. I dry up green trees and make dry ones green. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will keep my word.
All kinds of birds will find shelter under the tree, and they will rest in the shade of its branches. Every tree in the forest will know that I, the Lord, can bring down tall trees and help short ones grow. I dry up green trees and make dry ones green. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will keep my word.
Word of God, word of life. Thanks be to God.
Song Lord, Let My Heart Be Good Soil
The gospel according to Luke Duet or Trio, Mary’s Song
The Magnificatfrom Holden Village Evening Prayer
Song All Night, All Day
Story – Angels Appear to the Shepherds from Probity Jones and the Fear Not Angelby Walter Wangerin, Jr. (adapted)
One night, I was invited to the first Christmas pageant. A beautiful angel carried me there.
We crossed a sea as deep as dreaming, then we began to descend over another country, a dark one, a land where the only light was fires. Campfires, cook fires, torches. We saw round hills in the night, narrow gorges between them, and little village made out of wood and stone. Faster and faster the hills rose up. They seemed covered with snow. No, not snow! It was wool! Sheep’s wool and shepherds keeping watch over the flocks.
The angel said… Watch!
Lower we sailed to the shepherds on wings as wide as the wind. Brighter and brighter the person began to shine until I realized who this was. This was the Fear Not Angel!
The shepherds were terrified by the brightness. They dropped to the ground and covered their heads with their arms.
But the angel said, Fear not.Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy—
Wait! I knew these words! These were the very words I had memorized for the pageant. Oh, I was happy now! Together, I sang with the angel:
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
The shepherds lowered their arms and looked up…
We sang: And this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
Suddenly all the stars in heaven flew down, ten million angels. It was as if the whole sky was… singing: Glory to God in the highest, and peace to the people with whom God is pleased.
The shepherds leaped up and raised their hands, worshipping God.
Choir There’s a Star in the East
Mary and Joseph are at the manger. The shepherds, sheep and angels all come toward them.
Those who will carry star & star-lit items and animals for Only a Star are “on deck”
(star, dewdrops, hay, dragonfly, scarab beetle, doves, donkey, jerboas, snail, nightingale with eggs in nest)
Story Only A Starby Margery Facklam
What were the trimmings that first Christmas morning? What brightened the stable to welcome the Child? Only a Star.
But it glistened on dewdrops and turned them to diamonds.
Spidery threads became ribbons of silk.
Spidery threads became ribbons of silk.
Even the hay in the hard, wooden manger
gleamed satin-soft surrounding the Babe.
A dragonfly hovered on wings of clear crystal
Scattering the light in a rainbow of gems.
A scurrying scarab caught in the starglow
Added an emerald to trim the Child’s bed.
Doves preened feathers drifted,
Like guardian angels on watch overhead.
Tired from its journey a donkey stood silent.
Its worn copper bell glowed like gold for a King.
Three chubby jerboas danced in the starlight—a ritual of joy for this holy day.
A snail left a trail that glittered like tinsel.
Dust sparkled in banners of heavenly light.
Cradled by down in the nest of a nightingale,
Eggs became ornaments made for this birth.
What trimmed the stable that first Christmas morning?
Only a Star, but it dazzled the earth.
Song A Stable Lamp is Lighted
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